Welcome To The Greek Life
by imAddicted.2myipod
Summary: Lola Feyson has lived her entire life plagued by creatures that belong in storybooks. Finally, at the age of fifteen, she's fed up, and runs away from home, hoping to find peace from the monsters that she can't seem to shake. But what she finds is like nothing she ever imagined in her wildest nightmares, and she discovers that it's only just beginning.
1. Chapter 1

** Hello there, everybody. It's about time I put a story up on here again. Hopefully y'all will like this, and then I'll get to posting the next chapters up real soon. Honest opinions are very much appreciated, and just a simple review would be amazing! So without further ado, enjoy!**

Chapter One: I Get a Brother and a Vampire

It seemed to me that my legs were moving of their own accord.

I hadn't even thought of the wonderful idea of running until it had already happened. I had been frozen in fear, and without a second thought I'd taken off running. I suppose it was second nature, really. For me to run, that is. It's what I'd been doing for a long while now- I'm not entirely sure just how long- and it had stuck.

In this case, it had saved my life.

That _thing _had been seconds away from killing me before I'd gained enough of my wits about to realize I needed to run.

"You can't run from me, little girl!"

Her icy voice sent chills down my spine, and I pushed myself further and further through the endless expanse of the forest. If only I could get to civilization, then I would be safe. She'd never try something in public, and even if she did, surely someone would help me!

But I couldn't quite remember which way the nearest town was. For all I knew, I could be headed in the opposite direction. Still, I made myself continue. I f there was one thing I would never do, it was give up.

"How long until you can't run anymore?"

Her voice echoed off the trees, taunting me. She knew I wouldn't be able to last much longer. She was waiting for me to exhaust myself, and then she would pounce. The reality of it hit me hard. She was going to kill me.

I'd been plagued by these _things _my whole life, and now the time had finally come. They had decided that my time here was up.

My too short legs were burning in protest and I forced myself to continue at an even faster pace. My breath was coming out in pants, and I could hear that _monster _behind me. Her footsteps were far too close for comfort.

I noticed that the trees were finally clearing away, and I had to bite back a cry of relief. The forest was coming to an end. Which meant people! Oh, I was going to live!

Then my eyes widened in horror as I realized why there weren't as many trees. I came to a sudden stop, stumbling slightly, and narrowly avoiding going toppling over the edge of the cliff. Peering downwards, I saw harsh waves colliding with the rocky sides of the cliff. No human could ever survive that fall. It was too far. Which meant one thing. I was screwed.

"Well, now what do we have here?"

I turned around slowly, and was surprised to see that she looked exactly the same as when I first saw her. She was no longer a monster. She was really gorgeous, actually, with her blonde hair and blue eyes. I was ashamed to admit that I was slightly jealous of her looks.

I remembered how suddenly she had gone from being beautiful to being terrifying before. I wouldn't allow myself to be fooled.

_Concentrate, Lola, concentrate. _

And as I stared at her, she seemed to transform before my eyes. Her perfect tan vanished, and her skin seemed to be whiter than paper. She glared at me with inhuman, scarlet eyes. Worst of all, her hair seemed to be glowing red and looked to be _on fire. _

"What do you want from me?" My voice was even and confident. Something that certainly did not reflect how I was really feeling. But I'd always been like that. Ever since I was a child I had grown used to putting walls up and pretending to be things that I'm not.

"I want revenge," she hissed in her venomous voice.

I watched her with overly large eyes, and decided that I wasn't about to let her kill me without a fight. One of my least favorite things about myself was that I was always far too rational. I thought through every decision carefully, and sometimes I wished that I could just do something completely and utterly stupid. But it also meant that ninety percent of the time, I had a plan.

"But I don't even know you!"

"Your stupid brother killed me! And since I can't have him, I'll settle for you," she said, approaching me.

I didn't have a brother. And if somebody killed her, then how the hell could she possibly be here right now? Clearly, I was delusional, and in need of serious help.

"I know my brother's one hell of a bastard, but come on! Do you have to punish me for it?" I asked, playing along.

"I've been waiting for years to get my revenge. All this time I've been dreaming of the day I would be able to rip his flesh into little pieces and finally have my snack. Now that he's hiding in that _camp, _I can't get him. I'm hungry, and you're going to have to do."

I couldn't even begin to imagine how pale I must've looked right then and there. This _monster _wanted to eat me. She didn't just want to kill me, she wanted to _devour _me. I stared at her mouth, wondering how she would even fit my hand in it, and that's when I saw it. She had _fangs. _

All the pieces of the puzzle managed to fit together suddenly. _Pale skin. Red eyes. Fangs. _Why hadn't I realized it before? She wasn't just a monster. This bitch was a vampire.

"If it helps," She continued, "I don't usually kill girls. Even filthy half-blood girls."

"Yeah, it doesn't help."

"Then this will," She hissed, and then she lunged towards me.

I dodged her, moving to the side, but she was stronger than I had expected. It didn't take long for her to grab me so that I was unable to worm my way out. And no matter how much I struggled. How much I kicked, or screamed, or hit, I couldn't avoid it. Her fangs came down on my neck and she began tearing away at my flesh.

It hurt more than I had anticipated, but I still didn't allow myself to make a sound. Even if I was about to die, I would like to maintain what little dignity I had left.

This certainly wasn't Plan A. Plan A was to kill the bitch and make it out of this mess with no injuries. This was more like Plan Z. I knew that if I was going to die, this wasn't how I wanted it to happen. This monster was definitely not going to make this painless, and I really wasn't looking forward to a painful, slow death.

Ignoring the pain, I opened my eyes to see colors swirling about wildly. It was like my dyslexia was on steroids. I could barely make out shapes around me. Barely. She was distracted by my blood, and didn't have her guard up. Even in this state, I was able to realize that.

_Come on, Lola, be brave. FIve. Four. Three. Two. One._

In one single, fluid movement- I think it was fluid, but I really don't know for sure, since I didn't have all my wits about me- I used every ounce of my strength to push her off of me and to take one large step backwards.

Causing myself to plunge off of the cliff and towards the jagged, rocky waters that awaited me below.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, I got one review last chapter! However, I've gotten well over 15 views…Do the math. Pretty please with a cherry on top, if you read any of this, let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

Chapter Two: I Meet The Edward Cullen of Children

_"Mommy, where are you going?"_

_ A blonde woman had her hand on the door knob, and the moment she heard the girl's voice, she froze._

_ "Mommy?"_

_ She turned around slowly, and looked down at the child, with tears in her eyes. The woman was very clearly beautiful, but sadness had aged her. She had icy blue eyes that seemed to be tormented with grief. _

_ "Baby, go back upstairs with your auntie," She commanded in a weak voice._

_ "But why are you crying?"_

_ "I'm not crying," She said earnestly, and pointed to the staircase._

_ "But where are you going?"_

_ "Away."_

_ "But why?"_

_ "Because."_

_ "Mommy!" The little girl had begun to cry, and her mother made no move to comfort her. She just watched her cautiously, her eyes clouded. "I don't want you to leave!" She made a move to grab her mother's leg, but all of the sudden a man appeared out of thin air and caught the brown haired girl before she could reach her mother._

_ The woman blinked in surprise, but nodded to the man slightly._

_ "Jennifer, I'm sorry," he said in a low voice, ignoring the child's loud cries._

_ "Me too," She whispered back, finally grabbing the door knob and leaving without looking back._

_ The girl began to cry more and more, and the man set her down on one of the steps on the staircase, before kneeling down to her eye level._

_ "You need to prepare for what's waiting for you, Lola. Things are only going to get harder from here, and you need to be strong," He spoke softly, with pained eyes, as though he was upset by something._

_ "But I'm not strong!" I replied on instinct, even though he was talking to the child._

_ "Yes, you are. You're stronger than you realize. Get ready, because they're coming for you. But, for now, you need to wake up." He waved a hand in front of the little girl's face, and suddenly the entire dream shimmered and disappeared._

The sound of the ocean assaulted my ears, and the familiar salt water smell reminded me of home.

_But why was I at the beach?_

I opened my eyes in horror, and sat up less than a second later. I whipped my head around wildly, dark hair flying every which way, and found myself seated just inches away from the water, on a sandy, deserted beach.

There had been a cliff. I could remember it vividly. That _vampire _had been so close to killing me, and then I jumped, and I was screaming, and then…Then I woke up. How had I survived the fall? How had I ended up here?

I stood up with shaky legs, and began to evaluate my surroundings. The sun had set, which meant it had to have been at least several hours since I fell. But I couldn't see the cliff anywhere. I must have looked like an idiot walking down the beach, searching for a cliff that wasn't there. It's a good thing that there was no one there.

Once I decided that I was a safe distance away from the vampire, I did something that I sure wasn't looking forward to.

I could still remember the pain as her fangs ripped my flesh apart, and she began to drink my blood. I couldn't even imagine how mangled my neck was, and I was sure that there would be a scar. Reaching a tentative, gentle hand to my neck, I carefully felt around for the wound. But all I found was smooth skin. It was as if the vampire had never even existed. And now I was beginning to doubt myself. I must have felt up every single inch of my neck, trying to find some trace of what occurred, but there was nothing there.

_Had I dreamt the whole thing?_

It definitely was possible. The likelihood of meeting a vampire, almost getting killed by said vampire, and surviving a fall off a _ginormous _cliff was all too slim. Although, it wouldn't be the first time something strange like that happened. For me, weird was the new norm. And it had all been so real! I had been all prepared to get on my knees and ask Jesus to forgive me for telling my sister that if she ate snails, she would get a unicorn for Christmas.

I held my face in my hands and sunk into the sand. What had happened to me? Was I going crazy- I mean, crazier?

"A-Are you alright?"

The small voice caused me to yelp in surprise and jump to my feet faster than I thought possible. I was immediately ready to fight off the vampire bitch again, but instead of a red-eyed, chalk-white monster, there was a little girl standing in front of me.

She couldn't have been much older than 10, _if that. _Her cheeks were rosy, and her long, dirty blonde hair fell around her pale face and down past the middle of her back. I couldn't hep but wonder how long it had taken her to grow her hair that long. Her mouth was open slightly, and she looked _afraid _of me. Which was when I realized I had been standing as if I was about to punch her.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"You thought I was one of the monsters," She stated, her brown eyes wide and knowing.

I remembered how the vampire had looked like a completely harmless California girl before I had bothered to concentrate. _Appearances can be deceiving. _I stared at the girl long and hard, but she didn't change before my eyes. Still, I was hesitant.

"How do you know about that?" I asked, my voice careful and cautious.

"They chase me too," She whispered in her sad little voice.

"But how did you know I wasn't a regular person?"

She didn't say anything, and just pointed to my shirt. I looked down and was surprised to see a thick layer of blood coating the left side. _Proof. _It had really happened. I had really been attacked by a vampire. I wasn't sure whether to hide in a corner or rejoice. I settled on figuring out just who this kid was.

"What's your name?"

"Ava Cohen."

"Nice to meet you, Ava, I'm Lola," I said in my 'confident' voice, even though I suddenly wasn't quite feeling so confident. It was a stark contrast to how she talked in her timid, soft manner.

"Have you ever killed one of them? The monsters, I mean." Her large, knowing eyes were fixed on the bloody cloth that was my shirt.

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "Are you sure they can be killed?"

Her grey eyes met mine, and she just looked at me for a moment, evaluating me, almost. It was as if I was a tricky math problem, and she couldn't figure out how to solve it.

"If they can't be killed, then there's no hope for us," She finally said a few moments later.

"Then, I suppose we might as well think positively."

Ava nodded in agreement, her long hair fluttering in the sea breeze as she did so. I glanced back at the sky, and remembered that we were still outside in the middle of the night. It was far too soon since that vampire came to close to finishing me off, to allow me to feel comfortable out here.

"Have you got a home?"

She pursed her lips, and nodded once again.

"Well, then you'd better get home soon," I told her, with a meaningful glance towards the moon.

"But you won't have anywhere to go, and you'll be all alone."

How could this girl possibly know that? I knitted my eyebrows together in confusion, and she seemed to understand my expression immediately, as if she could read my mind. Hell, stranger things had happened to me than that!

"Your clothes. They're torn and bloody, and you look like you haven't taken a shower in weeks."

Well that certainly made sense. So, apparently, this girl wasn't the next Edward Cullen. And after my vampire run in, I was glad of it!

"Don't worry about it, I've been on my own for months now."

She looked deep in thought for a few moments, and I'd noticed in the very short time I'd known her that she did that often. She seemed to think through things quite often.

"I've got an idea."

* * *

_"Lola Feyson, you can't hide from me. I'll be back for you, and you will wish I had just killed you before."_

The voice was horribly familiar, and I was certain that I would be able to recognize it anywhere. The icy undertone to her venomous words was enough to make me want to run screaming into my mother's arms. The message behind her words was a whole other story.

I jolted upright instantly, and put a hand to my neck, only to find that I was covered in a thin layer sweat. When I felt the smooth, unmarred skin there I sighed in relief, and glanced around carefully to be absolutely sure that the bitch wasn't here.

"Just a dream," I mumbled to myself, trying to calm my frantically beating heart. I clutched the covers of the bed closer, and suddenly froze.

_Bed? Covers? _

Why the hell did I have a bed? Where was I?

Then, it came back to me. Ava. I'd met her last night, and she'd offered for me to stay with her. I remembered how her father had been so welcoming when I showed up in the middle of the night with his daughter. Of course, he'd probably just been thankful that his daughter was safe.

It had startled me how he had so easily allowed me to stay the night. I knew that my mother would never in a million years have let a strange girl covered in dirt and blood who showed up in the middle of the night with my little sister spend the night. But Mr. Cohen had.

"Oh, good, you're up," A voice drifted from the doorway, startling me slightly. I was seconds away from getting ready to run, when I noticed that it was Ava standing there. She smiled sheepishly, but didn't say anything. "Dad left for work, so it's just going to be us today."

After taking a much needed shower and borrowing clothes that were too big for Ava and too small for me, I found myself seated on the floor playing monopoly. After I ran away from home, I missed a lot of things, but it was these little things, like board games, that I found myself missing most of all. I liked to think that maybe I just wasn't meant to lead an ordinary life. There was something so frustrating about going to school day after day, and maybe a movie during the weekend. It was much too _normal. _But going from place to place, and spending each day somewhere new was much more satisfying. Despite the facts that I had to steal for every meal and that 'monsters' chased me, I still enjoyed it more than I had enjoyed living back home with my parents and sister.

I soon discovered that Ava dominated at board games. I made a mental note to always put my money on her rather than myself.

I also found out a lot about the girl. She wasn't as shy as she had seemed last night, that much was for sure. Turns out she was twelve- nearly thirteen- and not younger like I had originally thought. Her mom had left when she was a baby, hence the reason I'd only met her dad. She _enjoyed _school, and she even went on and on about this advanced math class she was going to take over the summer so she would be ready to start geometry before everyone else. And her favorite food was Nutella. I discovered that last one when she ate it for breakfast _and _lunch, much to my horror. She, of course, thought I was just as crazy as I thought she was because I didn't like chocolate.

"My friend told me that it's impossible for anyone to hate chocolate," She said through a mouthful of her peanut butter and Nutella sandwich.

"Sorry, Ava, but your friend is wrong."

"Or maybe you're wrong, and you really actually like chocolate, but you've just told yourself you don't because you want to be different from everyone else." I watched her curiously as she licked her fingers.

"Or maybe you're over thinking this," I retorted, barely managing to hide my smile.

"Or maybe you're under thinking this."

Being the older of the two of us, and clearly the more mature, I stuck my tongue out at her. She responded with a chocolately grin, and finished her lunch with a smug smile.

"So, can w-" Her sentence was cut off by the doorbell, and we both stiffened. It was strange to see somebody who reacted the exact same way to common, every day things. She frowned, and that simple action immediately scared me.

"Are you expecting anyone?" I said in a low voice.

She shook her head, glanced at the clock, and then her stormy eyes lit up suddenly.

"Oh! That's my friend! Come on, you'll want to meet him."

She dragged me to the door, and opened it before I could say that she should check that it was her friend first. They made those little peep holes for a damn good reason.

Standing in the doorway, waiting was the one and only vampire bitch from yesterday. She had found me. I suddenly felt incredibly stupid for accepting Ava's offer. I should have never spent the night here. I had dragged her even deeper into this mess, and a twelve year old girl certainly didn't need that.

"Hello there, Lola. Don't you look surprised to see me."

Ava was blinking in confusion, looking between me and the vampire. Couldn't she see her? Couldn't she see her flaming hair and her scarlet eyes? Or what about her impossibly chalk white skin? I was met with the sudden fear that maybe _I _was crazy. Maybe I was the only one that could see these damn things because they were in my head.

No, the _blood_. There had been blood on my shirt yesterday, and Ava had seen it. She had seen the blood. But there had been no wound. A lot of things could look like blood, and I had been unconscious. I grimaced, unable to decide what was real and what wasn't.

"Look at her, Ava. _Look."_

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Ava stared at the vampire, and then she let out a loud yelp, scrambling backwards as quickly as she could. Despite the situation, I felt a flood of relief. I wasn't alone in this. I wasn't crazy. For years, I had thought that there was something wrong with me. That I was delusional. But, finally, here was some solid proof that somebody else could see one of these monsters.

"You're a vampire!" Ava's voice suddenly became small, just like when I had first met her last night. It felt strange to hear her talk like that, even though I'd barely even known her for a day.

"Oh, puh-lease! You stupid half-bloods think you're so damn smart, and then you go ahead and call me a vampire! That stupid legend was based on _me!"_

"Uh huh, sure. Whatever you say."

I moved to the left slightly, so that Ava was completely blocked by me. Unfortunately, the not-vampire noticed, and gave me a sly, evil smile.

"Didn't you get my warning, Lola? I told you that you would wish I finished you yesterday."

In one insanely quick movement, she ran behind me and grabbed Ava around the waist. I stared at her in horror, and lunged forward. I wasn't sure what I was planning to do, but anything seemed like a better idea than nothing.

I punched her, I slapped her, I kicked her. But she wasn't effected by it like I had hoped.

With one simple move, she punched me hard in the stomach, and I collapsed to the ground. I stood right back up again, not allowing one little hit to get to me. Only, it was too late.

"You want your friend? Bring me your brother."

And then she was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, y'all! I honestly intended to be much further along with this by now, and right now updates are a bit slow, but they should speed up in a few weeks. Thanks for reading! Don't you forget to review!**

Chapter Three: Demi-What? 

_"What do you mean you don't know where my daughter is?"_

"I-I don't know what to say, Mr. Cohen," I said, my voice turning into a perfect replica of Ava's timid one. Me? Timid? Yeah, _that _was a usual experience! This man frightened the hell out of me! It was a billion times worse than any stupid monster.

"I thought you were here to take her to camp," He said, sighing loudly, and collapsing onto a chair. "I thought you would keep her safe."

"Camp? Why would I take her to camp?"

He sat up straight, suddenly. It was alarming how he went from slouched to ruler straight so quickly. His brown eyes peered at me through his dark rimmed glasses, and I just sat there, feeling entirely too awkward.

"You don't go to that camp? Camp Half-Blood?"

_Half-blood. _

It rang a bell somewhere within the catacombs of my memory.

_"If it helps," She continued, "I don't usually kill girls. Even filthy half-blood girls."_

_ "Oh, puhlease! You stupid half-bloods think you're so damn smart, and then you go ahead and call me a vampire! That stupid legend was based on me!"_

She had called me a half-blood. But, that wasn't all. I had heard that word again and again, but I'd never paid any attention to it. It had always just _slipped my mind. _I could remember times from when I was six and a teacher mentioned that word. A strange man off the street had called me it when I was eight. And the very day that I decided to run away I had been called a half-blood by a terrible, snake-like thing.

Why hadn't I realized it before? Why had I been incapable of putting together the pieces of the puzzle until now?

Because before now, I had thought I was crazy. I had been entirely alone, and half of the time I was under the belief that I was imagining things.

"What's a half-blood?"

Almost all of the sadness that had clouded his eyes when I admitted that Ava was gone vanished and was replaced with confusion. His gaze made me feel obligated to turn away, but I stared right back at him.

"How old are you?" He asked, speaking up finally.

"Fifteen."

His eyebrows knitted together in complete confusion, and it looked almost like he was attempting to solve an impossible math problem in his head.

"Your parents- what do they do?"

Generally speaking, I would never give away personal information to a stranger. However, I had allowed the bitch to take his daughter and it was all my fault. I owed him. Besides, he had allowed me to stay in his home without a second thought- clearly that was the biggest mistake of his life.

"Mom's an interior designer and Dad's an IT."

"You haven't got a step-parent?" He pried.

I didn't like that he was asking thorough questions, but I answered, nonetheless.

"Nah, I was born before Mom and Dad married, but he's still my biological dad."

Mr. Cohen's eyes lit up as though he had finally discovered the solution to that impossible equation.

"Lola, I'm going to ask you something, and you need to know that you can trust me. I have to know the truth. Ava- _something _took her, didn't it?" He spoke very slowly, wincing when he mentioned his daughter.

I just gaped at him. Was it possible that she had told him about the creatures she saw? Or could he see them too?

"Y-Yes. I'm sorry, I should have tried harder. I should have-"

"There's never any point in thinking of what should have been done until after you find a solution," he told me calmly. "Did this _thing _take her? Or did it hurt her?"

He didn't say person, he said _thing. _Which meant only one thing. He knew.

"It took her. I don't think it plans on hurting her, it's more of a hostage kind of deal. The thing wants my brother, and it will exchange him for her."

He frowned, his eyes darting around wildly as the gears spun in his head.

"Your brother- Don't say where he is, just tell me if he's somewhere safe."

"That's the problem," I said in an empty voice. "I don't have a brother."

* * *

Mr. Cohen- who had insisted that I call him Craig, but that just felt downright wrong- had refused to tell me anything else after that. He wouldn't even mention that he could see the monsters or anything. He just said that somebody was going to come and explain it all to me. Originally, I was worried when he told me 'his friend' was coming, because I immediately wondered if this whole thing was a trap. But then I remembered the horrible pain in his face when he learned about Ava. How he had looked like his entire world had been stolen from him after one single sentence.

Now, however, that sadness had been toned down a bit. He was more concentrated on coming up with the perfect, fool-proof plan to get her back. See, that's the kind of guy he was. In the entirely short time I'd known him, I noticed that he was a math kind of guy, just like Ava. He was all about having everything logical and in perfect order. Which was why the house was freakishly clean.

"Are you sure that this is the best idea?" I asked, my gaze shifted to the clock. It had officially been three hours since Lola had been taken, and we hadn't done anything to get her back yet.

"Yes."

"But what if he never show-"

I was cut off by a knock at the door, and Mr. Cohen rolled his eyes at me. I watched, carefully, as he looked out the window, before opening the door. I wished more than anything that I could go back in time, and warn Ava do have done that before she opened the door. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding when he relaxed and opened the door.

Waiting casually behind the door, leaning up against one of the pillars, was a teenage boy.

Honestly, I was a bit skeptical. When Mr. Cohen told me that someone was going to explain everything, I suppose I had expected a bit more than a teenager decked all in black. What I wanted was someone who could help us get Ava back. Someone who was capable of that, and even though this boy appeared strong, I wasn't convinced that would be enough.

The boy walked in as soon as the door was open, glancing warily behind him before shutting the door and locking it. That sure as hell didn't make me nervous or anything crazy like that.

"Nico, right?"

Glancing at Mr. Cohen in astonishment, I couldn't help but wonder what the hell he was thinking. What was he doing bering in some _kid _he hadn't even met? This was a matter of life and death for _his _damn daughter! Shouldn't he be more careful about it?

The guy nodded his head, glancing at me, and waited for someone to speak.

"I'm Craig and this is Lola. My daughter, Ava, was taken by a monster earlier today."

I didn't miss how he winced at that last sentence. And I also noticed that this Nico didn't look the least bit surprised. _Was this normal for him? _

"Taken?" Nico spoke up for the first time, and I shivered slightly at the lack of emotion in his voice. "Are you sure she wasn't…"

"She's alive."

He looked at me carefully.

"How do you know she'll stay that way?"

"Because Ava's a hostage. She said that she'd let Ava go if I give her my brother," I answered, looking back into his dark, guarded eyes.

"Who's your brother?" He asked, continuing to look me in the eye. Almost as if he was trying to intimidate me. Well, I wasn't about to be intimidated by him.

"I don't have a brother."

"But you're a demigod," he said in a 'duh' tone of voice, as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

"What the hell did you just call me?"

"Nico, she doesn't know."

My head whipped back and forth from Nico to Mr. Cohen. What were they even talking about? What were they hiding? And what the hell was a demigod?

_Demigod. _

The more I thought about it, the more familiar it seemed. It was as if I'd heard that word before, but I couldn't quite remember where.

My mind flashed back suddenly to a sixth grade history test question. _What is the name of the mortal child of a god and human? _

I'd gotten that question wrong. In fact, I'd flunked the whole Mythology unit. I remembered that clearly, because Mom had been pissed when she saw my test scores, and I hadn't been able to give her any reason as to why it had happened. That had been a long two weeks trapped in my room, pretending to study.

But why did Nico call me a demigod? Did he seriously think Greek Mythology was real?

Or was I wrong? Maybe I was remembering it all wrong, and demigods didn't relate to any kind of mythology.

"What's a demigod?"

"How old are you?" Nico demanded, not bothering to even acknowledge my question.

"Fifteen."

He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair in what looked almost like annoyance. He cursed under his breath, but I couldn't quite make out what he said and it sounded almost like a different language.

"What is a demigod?" I repeated, growing frustrated. How hard was it to answer my damn question?

"Someone who's parent is a god and the other parent's human."

I gaped at him, and looked back at Mr. Cohen, only to see he didn't look shocked at this revelation. In fact, he looked rather calm about it.

"Are you kidding me? You seriously think I'm going to fall for this?" I demanded, growing angrier by the second.

Was this all some sick joke? Did they think this was funny? Was this Mr. Cohen's way of making fun of me when I told him about the monster? What about Ava?

"Lola, Greek Mythology is real," Mr. Cohen said, reaching over to put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I stepped back before he could touch me.

"Uh, no, actually it's not," I said, glancing sideways back at the door. I eyed Nico and wondered if he'd chase after me if I ran. If he did, I wasn't sure if how fast he would be.

"It is. You've seen monsters your entire life, and no one else has. Why do you think you've seen them? _You're different. _You're the daughter of a god."

"No, I'm not! My parents are completely. one hundred percent human!"

"You were born before they got married," Mr. Cohen spoke up, "Which means that he isn't your father." I stared at the two of them in astonishment. They actually thought they were making a valid argument about all this. Which they definitely weren't. Because all this Greek shit didn't exist. It was all stories invented by some insanely bored Greeks thousands of years ago. There was no truth behind it whatsoever.

They were both watching me carefully, and I tried to inch towards the door without them noticing.

"You're lying! They wouldn't lie to me!"

One step backwards.

"Are you sure? Because it looks like they already have," Nico said, getting frustrated with me.

One more step.

"Of course I'm sure!"

Another step.

"Monsters exist. You know that because they've been following you around for as long as you can remember. Other people can't see them, only you can. Haven't you wondered where they come from or why they are always after you? Have you thought that maybe there's a reason that it's _you _and not someone else they want?"

I paused misstep and stared at Nico in surprise. It felt almost like he was reading my mind, but of course that wasn't possible…Was it?

For years, I had thought I was crazy. I thought that I had to be delusional if I was seeing monsters. Even now, my sanity was questionable.

Here, these people were providing me with an explanation. Answers to the questions that had eaten away at me this whole time. I'd had countless sleepless nights because of these questions. Here I was, being offered answers, and I wasn't taking them. Why?

_Because if it was true, then Mom and Dad had lied to me._

"Ava," I began, my gaze shifting to Mr. Cohen. "She could see them too. Which means-"

"Her mother is a goddess," He finished for me, nodding.

"That's why you let me stay here. You knew," I realized, a lightbulb turning on. He nodded. "And that camp you were talking about?"

Nico answered, "It's a camp for people like us. Where we train and learn how to survive. That's where we're going."

"_We're _going there?"

Who the hell did he think he was _telling _me that he was taking me to some camp? What if I didn't want to go?

"You either go to camp and train or you die out here."


End file.
